Historic piece of Doncaster mining legacy gains protection

Sarah Marshall

Campaigners battling to preserve a piece of Doncaster’s mining history have won their fight with less than 48 hours to spare – after Historic England granted two pithead structures protected status.

The pithead structure at Hatfield Colliery – one of the last three deep coal mines in the UK – was due to be demolished today by Doncaster Council in order to prevent ‘serious health and safety incidents’.

But the decision has now been overturned after an application to Historic England calling for the pithead structure to be given grade two protected status was awarded yesterday – with less than two days to spare.

The application was submitted by members of the Save Hatfield Main Headgear campaign group, comprised of former miners and residents, who started their fight after the pit was closed a year ahead of schedule in July.

Ex-miner and campaigner Mick Lanaghan called Historic England’s decision to award the headgear at Hatfield colliery protected status and add it to the list of protected buildings of architectural and historical interest a victory for the group – but added they still had far to go.

“It’s helping to preserve our legacy,” said Mr Lanaghan, of West Avenue, Stainforth.

The 56-year-old, who worked at Hatfield Main for over a decade, added: “We’re all still in a state of shock. We had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would lose one of them, but we didn’t expect this.

“It’s a piece of Doncaster’s mining history and you can see it from the road, from the rail network and even from the air – it’s our Angel of the North.

“You speak to ex-miners who say that when you used to come home, after being away, you would know you were home when you would see the headgear and they miss that when it’s been knocked down – but we’ve been able to save ours.

“It’s important to us as a community. But this is just the beginning – now we have to find funding streams for it.

“But we’d like to be confident that this is something we can achieve.”

The closure of the colliery in the summer marked the end of an era for the coal industry and resulted in the loss of 430 jobs.